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-.s^Vs? " 3 Winston-Salem ? Greensboro ? H1c.11 Poi\ Vol XX)X No 49
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New
juvenile
court in
session
Teens can have their
records wiped clean
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
I III CHRONIC! E
A dozen teenagers are hoping
to have their criminal records
wiped clean and for a fresh start
to their young lives through an
innovative six-month-old pro
gram.
There
are high
hopes for
I h e
Forsyth
County
Juvenile
Treat
ment
Court and
the young
npnnlp ij
Williams
is designed to help.
The court provides a detour
for teens 13 to 16 who otherwise
would find themselves in the
revolving door cycle that has
become the juvenile justice sys
tem.
I here
are no
slaps on
the hand
in Juve
n i I e
Treat
ment
Court.
Partici
pants -
who must
be nonvi
Parker
olent offenders whose problems
are complicated by drug use -
agree to take a 12- to 18-month
journey that will involve the par
ticipant's parents and school.
"It's intensive," said Gene
Williams, program coordinator.
"We are involved with the child,
parents, school. We get behav
ioral help and mental health help
if they need it."
The Juvenile Treatment
Court is being Wade possible by
a three-year federal grant,
although officials hope to secures
Sec Court on A9
Black and Beautiful
NBTF roars into
Winston-Salem
for the eighth time
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
mi CHRONICLE
There are more stars on the
streets of downtown Winston
Salem this week than are in the
sky on a clear Triad night.
Familiar faces from stage,
television and the hig screen have
descended on the city for the 14th
Anniversary National Black The
atre Festival. They began arriv
ing Sunday and Monday at the
Adam's Mark Hotel, the festi
val's main hub. and have generat
ed a steady stream of star-gazers
who camp out in the hotel's
lobby with disposable cameras
and pads and pens, hoping for a
chance to lake home memories
from their favorite personalities.
Autograph seekers are not
leaving disappointed. Larry Leon
Hamlin, the founder of the festi
val. often boasts that the celebri
ties he recruits for the festival are
down-to-earth, more small-town
America than Holfywood.
"No one has said no to me
yet." one young star-gazer said
after actor Rockmond Dunbar
granted her request to pose with
her for a picture. Dunbar is best
known for his role as "Kenny" on
the hit Showtime series "Soul
Food."
When Hamlin started the
biennial festival in 1989. he
wanted to create a- place where
the history and dignity of black
theater could be embraced and
celebrated. Fourteen years later,
the festival has become thai and
much more. Celebrities are as
enamored of the festival as much
as fans are enamored of them.
"It is a gift to be able to come
together like this and express
ourselves," said -Lillias White,
the Tony-winning actress/singer
whose "Brooklyn to Broadway
II" was the first production to be
staged at the 2003 festival on
Monday night.
This is the first NBTF for
honorary festival co-chair Melba
Moore, bul she said she has set
tled in nicely.
"This is my first theater festi
val but it is already a family ?
reunion." Moore said.
Many of the celebrities
expressed similar sentiments.
Sec Festival on A7 1
Photo hy Bruce Chapman
Top: Tony-winner Lillias White unleashes her powerful pipes
at the Stevens Center Monday Night.
Photos by Kevin Walker
Right: CCH Pounder and Hal Williams talk before a news
conference on Monday. ?
Below: Actress Ella Joyce greets actor Joseph Mercell with a
big hug and warm smile.
^
Artwork brings world to Latham
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
"y THE CHRONICLE
Latham Elementary School
is driving home its global educa
tion theme in a very visual way.
When students return from sum
mer break next week, they will
see the colorful flags of nations
throughout the world along their
hallways.
"We are just trying to take
the (global theme) to the next
level," said principal Ingrid
Medlock.
Medlock came up with the
idea after attending a conference
that dealt with global issues. She
discussed her concept with Jen
nifer Holder, the school's art
appreciation and small reading
groups teacher, who has trans
formed the idea into a lively,
vibrant reality.
Holder has been working on
the project for only about a
week, but the walls of one vast
hallway already are covered
with about 30 flags. Another
hallway still has to be done. It's
unlikely that that hallway will be
given the global treatment
before students return, so the
project may not be completely
rnoK) ny i>.evm waiter
Geneva Brown (from right), Jennifer Holder and Ingrid Medlock.
finished until December.
Using a world atlas, sketches
of the flags were first pencil
drawn on the walls and later
filled in with paint. Latham
staffers Vickki Beaver and Judy
Cook and. School Board member
Geneva Brown are using their
artistic skills to pitch in.
Holder said the hardest part
of the project has not been creat
ing the intricate shield on the
Kenyan flag or the retfni(x>n and
See Latham on A9
WSSU, schools
program is step
closer to Reality
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
The school system and Win
ston-Salem State University are
one step closer to landing a
grant that they want to use to
start a school model that would
he the first of its kind in the
country.
Officials were notified thai a
grant application for the Gaies
Thurgood Marshall Scholarship
Fund submitted earlier this year
was reviewed favorably by the
fund administrators. Represen
tatives from the Gates-Thur
good Marshall Fund will come
to Winston-Salem next month
for a site v isit, which Schools
Superintendent Don Martin
thinks will be the final step
before the grant application is
officially approved.
"I think the site visit will go
well." Martin said Monday.
The school system and Win
ston-Salem Slate University
want to create a program tenta
tivdly titled the Winston-Salem
Preparatory Academy.
The
academy
would be
the cen
terpiece
of the
county's
alterna
tive edu
cation
p r o -
grams. It
would
Martin
take in 4()0 high school stu
dents. 1(H) for each grade level,
and try to improve their aca
demic and social skills by pro
viding a small classroom setting
and a hands-on curriculum.
Donna Benson, head of
See Grant on A9
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